The Architectural Hub.
RAIL55 is not a single practitioner's studio. It is a multidisciplinary ecosystem — an architectural hub in which engineering solidity, artistic direction and commercial scalability operate as one coordinated body, capable of taking full responsibility for a project's outcome, at any scale.
Architecture, Design & Business — one accountable body.
RAIL55's structure is built on three converging disciplines that never operate in isolation. This is the message we bring to every client: total project management, without the complexity of managing us.
Architecture & Engineering
The structural and technical backbone: BIM-native design, standards compliance and construction documentation held to global benchmarks, from a single facade detail to a territorial master plan. This is what reassures our American institutional clients — timelines, budgets and standards are not promises, they are modelled.
Design — AbitaDecò Artistic Direction
Artistic direction is entrusted to AbitaDecò, RAIL55's design authority, responsible for the material and narrative identity of every interior and facade — the syncretism of Italian design excellence with the cultural texture of each specific place, from the Gulf to the Mediterranean coast.
Business Scalability
The commercial and operational layer that allows RAIL55 to move fluidly between a two-hundred-hectare logistics concession and a single private residence, without either client absorbing the operational complexity that scale usually demands. This is what frees our Gulf clients to expect excellence without managing it.
The Faces of RAIL55.
Behind the Operative Trident are three people who have carried it, in practice, for decades.
Claude Impellizzeri
Born in Tunis in 1955, he graduated in Architecture from the Politecnico di Torino in 1978, with a thesis in architectural design. Over more than forty-five years of activity, he has designed and directed hundreds of projects — from large-scale public and industrial works to bespoke private commissions.
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Since 1979 he has been registered with the Order of Architects, Planners, Landscape Architects and Conservators of the Province of Turin (no. 1475) and has practised continuously as an independent professional, working in architectural design, building renovation, restoration and design.
His experience ranges from large-scale, complex works — in the public, industrial and residential sectors — to bespoke interventions for private clients (B2C), with particular attention to design quality, spatial functionality and the enhancement of existing heritage.
Between 1979 and 2010 he served as an environmental heritage expert on Building and Planning Commissions for numerous municipalities, contributing to the protection and enhancement of architectural and landscape heritage.
From 1999 to 2004 he collaborated with the Faculty of Agriculture at the University of Turin, taking part in research activities dedicated to the recovery, conservation and enhancement of rural heritage.
His professional practice is distinguished by an approach that combines technical rigour, design sensibility and attention to client needs, developing architectural solutions capable of integrating innovation, sustainability and respect for historical and environmental context.
Laura Carpignano
Born in Turin in 1956, she graduated in Architecture from the Politecnico di Torino in 1980, with a thesis in Restoration, orienting her professional path from the outset toward the enhancement of built heritage and the quality of living spaces.
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Since 1980 she has been registered with the Order of Architects, Planners, Landscape Architects and Conservators of the Province of Turin (no. 1644) and practises independently, working in architectural design, renovation, building recovery and interior design.
Over more than forty years of activity, she has designed and directed hundreds of projects, following every phase from concept to completion. Her experience spans interventions of varying scale, from the redevelopment of residential and commercial buildings to the design of interiors and spaces dedicated to people's wellbeing, with an approach attentive to functionality, aesthetics and quality of living.
In 1994 she obtained qualification as an expert in social-care facilities, developing specific expertise in designing environments for people-centred services, with particular attention to regulatory, functional and accessibility aspects.
In 2000 she took part in the N.O.W. – "RESEAU" community project, a European initiative dedicated to skills development and innovation in design processes.
Her professional practice is distinguished by the ability to combine design sensibility, technical expertise and attention to client needs, developing tailored solutions that enhance spaces through a balance of functionality, comfort and aesthetic quality.
Felipe Impellizzeri
Born in Salvador de Bahia, he began his professional path at a young age, gaining experience on internationally significant construction sites across Europe and Africa, including Congo, Chad, Cameroon and Tunisia — developing a broad vision of architecture, design and site organisation.
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A surveyor, artist and photographer, he combines technical skill with creative sensibility in a design approach oriented toward quality, innovation and the personalisation of spaces. Within the studio he works alongside architectural design, selecting materials, finishes, furnishings and design elements, contributing to the creation of bespoke residential and commercial environments characterised by functionality, elegance and a strong aesthetic identity.
His passion for art, photography and history is a constant source of inspiration and depth, allowing him to develop a particular attention to detail, proportion, light and the harmony of spaces. This sensibility translates into the ability to create original design solutions that combine aesthetic value, comfort and innovation.
Fluent in four languages — Italian, English, French and Arabic — he operates naturally in international contexts, serving as a point of reference for foreign clients and partners in interior and exterior design, furnishing consultancy and the management of multicultural projects.
His contribution to the studio integrates technical expertise, international experience and artistic research, offering a contemporary vision of the project in which architecture, design and culture engage in dialogue to create unique, highly personalised spaces.
Europe. Francophone Africa. New vectors: USA & GCC.
RAIL55 operates as a bridge between three worlds: Europe, the seat of design authority and facade engineering discipline; francophone Africa, the pole of large-scale infrastructure and materic craftsmanship; and the new vectors of expansion into the United States and the Gulf Cooperation Council, where both of our tracks now compete for the most demanding clients in the world.
The technological horizon of architecture, applied as a discipline, not a gimmick.
RAIL55's philosophy of innovation rests on a simple premise: the firms that will lead architecture and infrastructure delivery over the next decade will think like technology companies, not like traditional practices. We apply artificial intelligence and what we call Cognitive Twins — continuously updated, simulation-ready digital models of every asset we design — to optimise decision-making at every stage, from early feasibility through to construction sequencing and post-occupancy performance.
This positioning creates a clear line of separation between RAIL55 and conventional European competitors, most of whom still treat digital tools as a visualisation layer applied after design decisions are made. For us, the Cognitive Twin is the design process. It is also, deliberately, a statement of alignment: with the data-driven mentality of institutional capital in the United States, with the Smart City ambitions written into Dubai's own development plans, and with the technological aspirations embedded in Qatar National Vision. When a Gulf ministry or an American fund evaluates RAIL55 against a traditional architecture practice, they are not simply comparing portfolios. They are recognising a partner who already thinks the way their own strategic plans require every partner, eventually, to think.
"One hub. Three disciplines. Two scales. A single standard of precision, applied everywhere we build."